Research

Published on November 19, 2008 - Reports:
Less than three years after purchasing American Water, the largest water company in the United States, German conglomerate RWE announced it was abandoning its hopes to turn water into "blue gold." RWE, among the largest utility companies in the world, abruptly decided that water is a "very local business," and that building a global water empire country-by-country was impractical.

Published on November 15, 2008 - Fact Sheets:
Despite his energy investment funds losing $1 billion during this year‚ market collapse and his personal loss of about $270 million1, famed oilman T. Boone Pickens still looks to turn his attention from ‚black gold" to ‚blue gold." The billionaire tycoon recently supplemented his property holdings in Roberts County, Texas with 200,000 acres of land atop the Ogallala Aquifer. Under Texas law, this purchase entitles Mesa Water, Pickens new company, to take more than 320,000 acre-feet of water, equivalent to more than 104 million gallons, from the property. Pickens plans to pump the water from his land in the state‚ north- eastern panhandle and pipe it to Lubbock, El Paso, San Antonio or the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Published on October 14, 2008 - Reports:
Aqua America is the second largest publicly traded water and wastewater corporation based in the United States. It has pushed its way to the top through a strategy of aggressive acquisitions and drastic rate increases.

Published on September 04, 2008 - Fact Sheets:
Water is one of few common resources on which all of us depend for life, so it‚ important for us to be responsible stewards. Read on to learn about some of the potential dangers hiding in your tap, what you can do about them, and how you can be drinking in a cleaner, healthier community.

Published on June 25, 2008 - Fact Sheets:
The $60 billion global bottled water industry has grown rapidly in recent years. To keep up with the expanding market, corporations are looking for new water sources. Once they identify good or easy targets, they come into communities, bottle their water, slap a corporate logo on it and sell it to stores across the country. The profits are great and the resource is cheap. The corporations benefit. The communities dont.

Published on June 19, 2008 - Reports:
Although public utilities provide water to about 86 percent of people on community water systems, a private sector push is on to change this. The corporate water barons are salivating at the prospect of profiting from the drinking water and wastewater infrastructure crisis facing the United States.1 Already, U.S. cities endure 250,000 to 300,000 water main breaks, lose one-fifth of their water through leaks and suffer 1.2 trillion gallons of wastewater spills each year. Americans will spend up to $1 trillion by 2019 to upgrade and repair our 1.5 million miles of piping and the treatment plants to avoid a public health crisis.

Published on February 15, 2008 - Fact Sheets:
Ocean desalination — a process that converts seawater into drinking water — is being hailed as the solution to water supply problems. Proponents of desalination claim that this technology will create a reliable, long-term water supply, while decreasing pressure on other over,drawn water sources. But desalination facilities have the potential to create more problems than they solve.

Published on February 14, 2008 - Fact Sheets:
Ocean desalination — a process that converts seawater into drinking water — is being hailed as the solution to water supply problems. Proponents of desalination claim that this technology will create a reliable, long-term water supply, while decreasing pressure on other over,drawn water sources. But desalination facilities have the potential to create more problems than they solve.

Published on January 03, 2008 - Fact Sheets:
A close look at data from more than 1,000 U.S. utilities and existing academic research reveal that private water companies are not only no better performing, but are also more expensive than publicly owned utilities.

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